Chris Pine Cast as the Love Interest in Wonder Woman

Update: Following subsequent rumors that Pine would instead star in the next Green Lantern movie, The Wrap has confirmed he has closed a deal for Wonder Woman and will still get to participate in much of the superhero movie’s action.

For years, Chris Pine has been rumored or in contention for numerous franchises. He’s got one solid series in Star Trek, of course, as the new Captain Kirk, but every actor worth anything these days needs two major brand-name characters going, preferably at the same time. Because everyone has to be Harrison Ford now. Pine finally attempted a second franchise with Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, but that did not work out at all. It seemed likely that he’d wind up with a superhero gig, having reportedly been considered back in the day for Captain America and more recently for the new Green Lantern. Well, he has lined up a superhero property, but he’s not playing the superhero. He’s playing the superhero’s love interest. In Wonder Woman.

Variety reports that Pine will play Steve Trevor, the pilot who crashes onto Paradise Island and is saved by the Amazon princess Diana and then is saved by her more and more when she becomes the title heroine. The dude in distress is something we don’t get enough of in any movies let alone comic book adaptations, so this should be an interesting dynamic to see on the big screen. Pine’s counterpart in the movie will be Gal Gadot, who makes her debut next year in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Then, after Suicide Squad, we get Wonder Woman as the fourth installment of the DC Cinematic Universe franchise on June 23, 2017. Will Pine show up beyond the one movie? Or will he be a Jane Foster and have to skip out on the Justice League movies?

If the Wonder Woman production is anything like Suicide Squad, we could find out a lot about the extent of Pine’s presence at least in the one movie as soon as it begins filming. But until then, little is known other than the two leads now cast and the director being Patty Jenkins. In the meantime, here’s Lyle Waggoner in the role of Trevor in the ’70s Wonder Woman TV series: